Japanese 'Departures' Oscar Ignites Frenzy

Asia Pulse Pte Ltd

TOKYO - After winning the Academy Award for best foreign film Sunday in Hollywood, Japanese film "Departures" is enjoying brisk business at the local box office, with demand for the DVD and script also robust.

At a number of Warner Mycal Corp. cinemas on Monday, just after the Oscar was awarded local time, visitors lining up to see the film "were triple that of last weekend, despite it being a weekday," said a company official. Moviegoers, who had mostly been middle-aged and elderly, even included young couples. Warner Mycal could keep screening the movie past its planned finish date of March 6.

After debuting in 220 theaters last September, "Departures" was on offer in just 31 movie houses in mid-January, according to its distributor Shochiku Co. (TSE:9601). But with the movie in the headlines after picking up a string of awards, it is currently playing in roughly 180 theaters. With the addition of the Oscar, Shochiku plans to lift this to around 190.

Meanwhile, Amuse Soft Entertainment Inc. was flooded with orders for 20, 000 "Departures" DVDs on Monday and Tuesday. The company is scheduled to release the DVD March 18. Total orders for the movie have now surpassed 100,000, which "is mind-boggling for a Japanese drama," says the firm. Amuse Soft has now doubled its initial sales target for the DVD to 200,000 units.

Script sales of the award-winning movie surged Monday as well. Shogakukan Inc., which handles the script, expects sales this week to hit 20,000 copies, four times as many as a regular week. The company has already printed 200,000 copies of the script, but is considering an even bigger reprint.

----

More movie news

Movie reviews